Jazzquad – Review By Leonid Auskern

Of the ten songs of this album, at least seven Polson had a chance to perform with many celebrities. Among them – David Sanborn, Winton Marsalis, Phil Woods and other jazz stars. But it was in smus-jazz that he achieved the greatest personal success, performed in many countries and participated in many festivals, his albums sound in this style. No exception and the newest For Lovers Only. At the same time, Kenney seeks to connect the Smus with various areas of African-American music. In particular, as he himself says, the For Lovers Only project is an attempt to synthesize smus-jazz and rhythm-and-blues, in which he invited musicians, both jazz and rhythm-and-blues, to participate. The album was attended by performers from such famous compositions as WAR, The Isley Brothers, Kool & The Gang, Malo, Rufus, Tower of Power. To my taste, this synthesis turned out to be most noticeable in the composition of Polsons’ Passion, where the role of rhythm and blues echo is played by Roger Smith’s organ party from the Tower of Power. On the whole, Kenney Polson’s author compositions seemed to me more interesting and creative than covers. The smug-jazz version of the famous Stella By Starlight standard, which introduced backing vocals, is unlikely to appeal to fans of “pure” jazz, but Polson, who opened the program For Lovers Only with this composition, works for a different audience. I, too, do not like smus-jazz too much, but it is necessary to evaluate certain works according to the rules of the direction in which they are made. In this sense, Kenney Polson is really a great master both as a composer, and as a saxophonist using several types of instruments, and as a subtle connoisseur of his tastes.are devoted to the theme of love, and the name For Lovers Only speaks for itself. American saxophonist and composer Kenney Polson follows the laws of the genre, which he chose and in which he works very fruitfully and successfully. Let him not yet reach the scale of success of another saxophonist and another Kenny, Kenny G, but in the northwestern United States, in Seattle and Portland, this native of Kansas City, Missouri, is very well known. Yes, of course, you are right – this genre is called smus-jazz.